Monthly Archives: May 2016

Don’t sleep on Twitter. The micro-blogging platform has taken a lot of body blows over the past year or so, both on the street and in the mind’s of marketers. Whereas many of our clients and prospects used to have Twitter in their “Big 4″ (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest) many are now questioning whether or not they should even be active on it at all. FYI: They should!

Twitter is the only true, real time purveyor of news and information out there. When things are unfolding in the world, both tragic (shootings, earthquakes etc.) and positive/entertaining (awards shows, TV/movie/streaming service episodes etc.) people turn to the bird, to get their immediate fix of what is happening in the moment. Yes growth has stalled, and other platforms are taking marketshare, but Twitter still has 310million+ active users and is a direct line into people’s mobile devices, where 83% of active users are.

We like Twitter for SMB’s and brands, because it is an excellent tool to find eyeballs and serve up branded content (like you see above) and/or marketing messages to potential customers. We encourage at least 100-150 outgoing Tweets a month (3-5 daily) and ideally most will drive traffic back through your domain. As marketers continue to try to prove the value of social in the marketing and ROI funnel, it is important to have as many tools at your disposal as you can. Twitter is a very valuable asset in this regard.

There is a lot of noise on the platform so it is important to be regimented and consistent with your output, which can be daunting to most. It seems like a lot of heavy lifting, but sometimes you have to put in the work if you want to get the sale. What is more important than that?

Here is an exchange from the Tweet listed above for our client Veestro. This user saw our content and replied with a simple innocuous message, that it “looks delicious.” We kept the conversation loop going (the foundation of social media) and immediately replied with a positive and non-salesy message to her. She then went ahead and confirmed that she would try the product and that she was so “glad she saw our tweet.”

This sale is a direct result of Twitter activity and is proof that the work can indeed payoff. We think it is worth the time to generate the revenue from this customer, and given the retention rates of this client, we’d assume that the lifetime value and continued revenue makes this a home run.

The cherry on top of all of this, is that this particular user is an influencer on the platform, with 12K+ followers which brings us free exposure to her audience. She is also a plant based eater, who talks and writes about excellent customer service – something she experienced first hand here. = GRAND SLAM!

Facebook is such a powerful advertising medium for any brand looking to share their story on the web. It offers unprecedented targeting, very cost effective reach and is a proven winner when it comes to driving clicks and conversions on an e-commerce website. We have clients leveraging all three on the daily and are driving ROI’s as high as 13X their spend.

Paid social is a beast, but there are many who are still sitting on the sidelines. As a result, they are missing out big time! Many brands abandoned Facebook completely, when it went to a “pay to play” model and we have always run in the opposite direction of those people. We are all in on Facebook Marketing and have talked about our POV on it here in this blog.

Sometimes it is as simple as leveraging page post engagements (boosting posts) to your fans and their friends. If you have a brand that makes great products, has strong customer service and in turn actually has a community of fans, then no other platform corrals them for you like Facebook. It tees up an opportunity for you to share a message and guarantees delivery to (a grip of) them if you want to put some funds behind it. Why is that a bad thing???

Our client Bombas, is a brand with awesome products, epic customer service and their fans absolutely love them. We chose to leverage the pretty piece of content you see above, showing off their new line of products by putting a nominal spend ($20) behind it and simply targeted their fans and friends of their fans. This $19.83 spend directly translated into $1,721.35 in revenue. Seems like a good investment, wouldn’t you say?

As a cherry on top, you can see the comment from one of their fans on the post, thanking them for “listening to their customers” and rolling out these new colors. They clearly exhibited that they care about their community, and implemented changes and improvements based on their feedback. That is the whole point of social media, isn’t it?

Our client DeliverLean has been relying on social media to be a resource for branding, awareness and exposure since it’s inception. As the company has evolved from just a concept to an Inc 500 list member, it has continuously looked for different ways to use social to help advance the company.

In 2016 we turned to a more aggressive paid social plan, including a full funnel clicks and conversions strategy, a very successful lead ads campaign and the use of Instagram Ads too. They are a local brand, looking to target various health, diet and fitness subsets within a defined geographic region, and nothing is more well suited for this than The Social Network.

In a different type of “paid social” effort, we also have deployed an influencer program that leverages local users who have big followings, to help them spread the word and convert new customers. We offer a monetary reward for each new user earned from that person, as well as a discount on product for them to enjoy too.

These efforts are incredibly effective because you now have the endorsement from a “trusted individual,” at least in the eyes of their follower/fan base. We like this strategy with this client in particular, because they aren’t just posing with the product- they are actually using it themselves and are actual customers of the company. You get their stamp of approval, and with images like the ones above, you are also painting a desire picture (two super fit people eating their product) which helps convert users subconsciously.

We have talked before about how social media is not a marketing vertical and shouldn’t only be evaluated by ROI and KPI terms, but that being said most brands still lean that way. This is is an example where you can directly attribute revenue to social media efforts and the return is tremendous. It is not the only reason you embark on a long term social media plan, but it is definitely one that will keep the client, especially the one’s in the C-suite happy.

I have been getting asked more and more about Facebook Live over the past few weeks, so I thought I would chime in on the topic. While it is still in it’s infancy, you can already see the potential of this content sharing vehicle. When all is said and done, I predict it will be a real game changer.

In the macro, it is a really big deal. As the land grab continues on streaming content (think Netflix and Hulu) as well as other players trying to grow their foothold (think YouTube Red and even Apple’s moves towards Hollywood and owned, created content) Facebook is flexing the muscle of its massive platform and is making big waves. Zucks is obsessed with FB Live as it fits so nicely into the core ethos at The Social Network, and it is such a simple and easy way to be in the game.

They are going long on the ability to easily deliver content to a very targeted audience and leveraging heavy hitters on the platform such as Vin Diesel, who has recently offered some behind the scenes videos from the set of of his reprisal of XXX or Whoopi Goldberg who broadcasted her experience from The Oscars this year and earned 2million+ views when all was said and done. People are watching and what’s better, the content creator can (and usually does) engage with the viewers in the comments, creating a dialogue rather than just another one way medium. It is a win for Facebook and for both the talent and the audience too.

From a brand or small business POV, Facebook live is a tremendous vehicle to broadcast real content and to engage with fans and customers in a direct one to one format. It is not for everyone, but for those who have the chops it can really pay off. Be prepared before you go live. You don’t want to just be on camera and live streaming to your community without a plan of what you generally want to say. Just going live for the sake of it and then babbling about nothing specific, can actually move people backwards in the sale’s cycle – so think first, before streaming!

Fitmark is doing an excellent job with this new tool and it is translating into chatter and revenue for their brand. They have always been early innovators on Facebook and have been quick to jump on new features before the rest, to get a head start. By hosting their #AskFitmark show there and/or just live streaming their charismatic CEO Mark Samuel in and around the office, they are winning with this feature.

If done right it can be an amazing way to tell your story, sell your products and develop your community. That is the whole point of social media, isn’t it?

As a follow up to my post titled Gratitude Attitude, I want to talk about how happy it makes me to bring value to others. Not only is it great to get referrals from other companies and allies, but it is equally satisfying to bring business to others too. I want to be a contributor to the ecosystem in any way that I can, and every time a referral turns into business I am stoked on both ends.

So far in May I’ve referred out 3 opportunities that all seem super promising for both parties. Also, one introduction I made late last month, just converted into a six figure branding and positioning job for a partner firm and there is another in it’s final stages too. It genuinely brings a big smile to my face!

For the past 16 months I have also been focused on trying to help/mentor one Entrepreneur or new business idea each month, by offering some free time and advice. I try to guide them on how to handle early stage tactics, how to navigate the ups and downs (there are so many) and where they need to focus. I also try to refer them to others who can help, places to find content/information to arm them on their journey or even to tools like Evernote (to help them be efficient and organized) or Headspace (to help keep them sane).

In the end of the day, I am a big believer in being an active and contributing member of your community, whatever that community might be. If I were a Doctor, friends and family would call me all the time asking me for advice or to offer a quick diagnosis, and of course I would be right on it. This is no different. Though I am no Doctor, my skill is in growing businesses on social media and I want to flood that world, with positive energy all day, every day.

It might result in referred business for me in the long game, (and I will take it of course) but while that will lead to satisfaction, it is not my motivation. The short term upside of showing love and giving back is more than enough.

Instagram is a fantastic social network and brands in all industries (especially fashion) have taken to it as a way to story tell and display their style. It is easy to use, mobile based and is a direct line to people’s pockets. We like Instagram, because it is another platform to help brands sell product to customers.

Here is a screenshot from one of our client’s Google Analytics dashboards, showing traffic over a the month of April from the link in their bio. Most brands think that Instagram is not a facilitator of traffic, and that is just not true. Here you see a healthy flow of users to their domain, an “off the charts” low bounce rate and these users are staying for 2+ minutes and visiting 6.5+ pages per session. These are unbelievable numbers!

What we like to see even more than that, is the sale for $104 that came from these efforts. When we started with this client they actually said “Instagram wont make us money, but we think it is important to post photos just to stay relevant” and we said- trust in the fact that the hard work and exposure will pay off and will ring the register. It is so satisfying to see that pan out!

We also manage Instagram Ads for this client and that has yielded much more revenue, but this organic, small ball sale is even more attractive to us. It is a combination of hashtag stuffing, influencer tagging and honing in on the best time of day, frequency and cadence in our content delivery. This surge in traffic and sale, came on a Saturday afternoon, from a post we made at an optimal time for this particular brand. Goes to show you that paying attention to data, being active on a weekend and deploying smart tactics can pay off.

To seal the deal on Instagram for this (and most of our fashion brands) we implemented the ability to have “shoppable Instagram” and in this client’s case we set them up with Foursixty as a partner. This approach has helped them convert a lot of business on the gram and proven out that this platform can be a real driver of revenue. Like anything in life, it is all about the execution!